La’angum! The local school name.

The Bumboazio community and the PAMBE Ghana advisory committee have decided on the name for the school! What is in a name, you ask? Well, calling it the Bumboazio school was too prosaic, particularly since this is a very special school, with so many stakeholders involved in supporting the development of a new model of mother tongue, bi-lingual education using the Montessori approach.

Also we did not want it to be called the PAMBE Ghana school. This would perhaps create an impression that PAMBE Ghana was in the business of running private schools, when our true aim is in developing, testing and spreading a model of improved basic education.

So, after much discussion with the community, the solution proposed was to have the Bumboazio community select three names, present these to the PAMBE Ghana Advisory committee and, together, select the final name.

The winning name is: La’angum!

There is no adequate translation of this Mampruli concept. The closest approximation is “united”. The rationale of the villagers is that the school reflects a spirit of unity that extends far beyond their community. It also encompasses all the local partners and supporters, including the Ghana Education Service, the local government, other local institutions, and of course, PAMBE Ghana and our supporters in the US.

This collection of individual and institutional supporters are “united” in providing the children of Bumboazio a high quality basic education, but beyond this, developing a new model and learning materials that could benefit the entire Mamprugu.

La’angum School we all are!